Girls take second at St. John's

The young Paynesville girls' track team continued to show improvement. At an indoor meet at St. John's University on Saturday, the girls recorded nine personal bests for the second straight week.

Two girls also missed breaking school records by fractions of a second. And to top it off, the girls placed in all 13 events and took second place out of 10 teams.

Coach Dave Randgaard said he was proud of the girls once again, especially because the competition was so fierce. "The competition at this meet was very tough, and the girls really came through with an excellent performance," he said.

The Bulldogs placed second in the ten-team meet behind conference rival St. Cloud Cathedral, who outscored the Dogs by eight points.

Ninth grader Tara Schmidt topped the team with two personal bests, just like last weekend. She had personal bests in the 55-meter hurdles, placing fifth. And she was second in the 55-meter dash, missing the school record - which was set by Sara Realdsen in 1986 - by 0.1 seconds. Schmidt also placed fifth in the 200-meter run.

Sophomore Kendra Johnson had two personal bests. She placed fourth in the hurdles where she just missed breaking the school record. She ran the 55-meter hurdles in 9.3 seconds, less than a half second behind the school record of 9.0, set by Kathy Wolf in 1980. She also got her indoor personal best in high jump, placing fifth, and placed sixth in the 400-meter run.

Ninth grader Brooke Schmitz led three Bulldogs in the top six in the 800-meter run. She was the only Dog to take first in an event by winning the half-mile run. She was also fourth in the long jump with a personal best.

Eighth grader Kacy Nehowig ended up finishing fourth with her personal best time in the mile run. She also placed second in the two-mile run.

Other top finishers for the Bulldogs were sophomore Brittany Lieser, sixth in the pole vault with a personal best and fourth in the high jump; eighth grader Tanis Beireis, fifth in the 800-meter run with a personal best; and senior Morgan Martinson, third in the shot put.

The girls' next meet is outdoors on Thursday at ACGC starting at 4 p.m. They also will host their first meet on Monday, April 7, starting at 4:30 p.m.